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| Little Ring of the Moscow Railways | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Owner | Russian Railways |
| Locale | Moscow |
| Stations | 12 stopping points with freight yards (15 including stations on branches) |
| Service | |
| Type | Heavy rail,Commuter rail |
| System | Moscow Railways |
| Operator(s) | Russian Railways |
| History | |
| Opened | 19 July 1908 |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 54 km (34 mi) |
| Character | Aboveground, surface, partially underground |
| Track gauge | 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) |
| Electrification | 3 kV DCoverhead line |
TheLittle Ring of the Moscow Railways (MK MZD,Russian:Малое кольцо Московской Железной Дороги), is a 54.4-kilometre-long (33.8 mi) orbitalrailway inMoscow,Russia.
Built between 1902 and 1908 asMOZD (Moscow Encircle Railway,Russian:Московская Окружная Железная Дорога, or justEncircle Line,Russian:Окружная линия)[1] for mixed use railway traffic, after 1934 the railway was only used for cargo traffic. During the 2010s, the railway was converted to be used for commuter rail service and allows free transfers with the Moscow Metro; the passenger service on Moscow Ring Railway started on September 10, 2016, as theMoscow Central Circle. The line is operated byRussian Railways'Moscow subsidiary.
In 1800, theKamer-Kollezhsky Val, the third historical ring of Moscow (afterBoulevard Ring andGarden Ring), became the legal outer border of Moscow. In 1879, some additional areas, includingSokolniki, were annexed to the city; however, at the time Moscow was encircled by a number of further settlements forming an urban agglomeration. Transport connections between these suburbs were poor. A number of proposals to build a ring railroad around the center to solve this were made in the 1860s and the 1870s. One such project was rejected in 1877 by theMoscow City Duma which cited inefficiency.[2] However, the transportation problems became increasingly obvious, and in 1898 after TsarNicholas II sent a message to the City Duma declaring that it was desirable to build a railroad, a project competition was opened. The project byPyotr Rashevsky, who proposed to build a ring of the total length of 54.4 kilometres (33.8 mi), won the competition.[3]
Construction started in 1902, and the railway was completed with the first train running in July 1907. In 1908, the railroad was declared to be completed, and it became part of theNikolayevskaya Railway, the main line of which ran between Moscow andSaint Petersburg. A Passenger service was organized of four trains per day. The trains first stopped inNikolayevsky Railway Station before joining the ring at thePresnya Station. Here trains were divided into two, with one train running clockwise, and the other one running counterclockwise.[2]
The Directorate of the Nikolayevskaya Railway was located in Saint Petersburg, and thus it was inconvenient for Moscow decision making. In 1916 control of the ring railway was transferred to theMoscow-Kursk Railway. In 1934 it became a separate railway before in 1956 being included in the Moscow Railway.[2]
The Circle Railway became known as Little Ring of the Moscow Railway after the 584 kmGreater Ring of the Moscow Railway, 40–100 km (25–62 mi) from the city centre, was completed during theSecond World War.
Between 1917 and 1960, the Moscow Little Ring Railway served as the border of the city of Moscow. In 1960, theMoscow Ring Road, a new beltway far outside of the Moscow Little Ring Railway, then just about to be completed, became the new official boundary of the city.[4]
On November 18, 1994, Andrey Shchelenkov died from the explosion of his own bomb targeting the river bridge between Vladykino and Rostokino stations. The explosion was not strong, and the bridge survived. Shchelenkov had ties to organized criminalMaxim Lazovsky but the motive remains unknown.[5]
By 2012, there were twelve freight stations operating on the railway.[6]
The line was reconstructed during the period of 2013–2016 for joint passenger and freight use. The reconstruction process included:
TheMoscow Central Circle is a passenger metropolitan line that runs along the Little Ring of the Moscow Railway, operated byRussian Railways as subcontractor forMoscow Metro. It was opened for passengers on September 10, 2016, after a four-year construction period. The passenger service is operated by 33Siemens ES2GLastochka trains.
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The following is the list of the original 1908 stations and yards and some other later stations on the line (clockwise from north):[7]
Since September 10, 2016, the re-developedCentral Circle Line has been in operation using this route, initially with 26 stations, and with 5 further stations opened in November 2016).[9][10]
